What is the best way to remove old tile from a bathroom wall?
Question:We pulled a bit off the wall with a hammer and chisel and are looking at what is beneath. It looks like it is possibly waterproof backerboard. What is the best way to do minimal damage to the wall so we won't have to do too much patching?
Answers:
Thats really the best way to do it, If it doesnt come off without damage to the walls your looking at a total rip out.
well, I will tell you from my experience. Your walls are probably either plaster + wire lath or possibly some type of sheet rock. In either case, try to scrape and/or sand the wall and fill in any holes or depressions. If the problems are slight, fill them with tile adhesive, otherwise use a plaster patch. If the walls are plaster and very damaaged, you may need to mix some mortar yourself. Just make sure you let the walls dry out sufficiently before tiling.
The main thing is that the walls end up flat and fairly smooth. If you are tiling around tub or shower, you may need to brush on membrane like Red Gard or something. removing plaster and wire lath will be time consuming and messy, plus what to do with the debris.
If you don't want to save the tile, break it into little pieces with a hammer. Don't hit too hard. Put a tarp or other protective liner on the floor or the bottom of the tub to catch falling debris. Also, wear protective glasses, and gloves are a good idea. Once the tile is cracked, you can usually remove it easily with a trowel wedged behind a vacant corner. If it was put in with thin-set, you might have to remove the grout first. You can do this by hand, but it goes much faster with an offset grinder. Then, slip a metal trowel behind again and repeat. You will then have to grind down the thin-set until the backing is smooth. If the tile was put in with an adhesive, you may have to actually sand down some parts of tiles which won't come off. There are adhesive dissolvers around, but if you don't know what the tile was installed with, it is hard to know how to dissolve them. Perhaps you can get someone at your local hardware store to look at a sample. This will be a time-consuming job, but worth the effort to do it yourself, as the professionals will want too much money. Don't rush, and don't expect a perfect result. Now, if you want to keep the tiles, that's a whole 'nother question. You have to do the same thing, only without smashing the tiles into pieces first.
This is how you do it if you want to replace 1 or a million.
first you get a chissal and go aroung the edges of a tile. But this is if you what to keep the tile. This way you will more likely damage the wall.
To do it proply you need to scrach a tile with a hard sharp metal object right down the middle. This schould make a scrach in it. Now take a hammer and tap it lightly and it schould crack and get the rest out by scraping it out.
Have fun witrh your project.
I've torn out and installed thousands of sq. ft. of tile, and remodeled more baths than any other room and have to tell you,,,You've already found the best way.
You don't need a chisel yet however. Any Big Box home store will have stiff blade scrapers designed for the purpose. I use them all the time,,,even if I have to persuade the mortar with a hammer and blade.
By waterproof backer board do you mean concrete backer board or green board drywall? The concrete backer board will accept more abuse. If it's anything else you should replace it down to the studs no matter what damage does or doesn't happen, once the tile is removed.
Steven Wolf
hammer and chiesel
If it's backerboard, like Durorock, set in mortar, just tear it all out. I've replaced tile on floors, backerboard with mortar, and found it easier just to remove the backer board. On a wall, you will damage backerboard beyond repair. If it's backerboard with mastic, then try to get behind one of the tiles with a chisel and tap gently.
If you are just replacing a piece, then try to salvage the board. But if tearing out all the tile, then just rip it all out, tile and board. New board will be cheaper than the time spent on being gentle with a chisel and hammer. Unless you have a lot of free time, and love frustration.
With a crowbar
well it really depends on what you plan on putting up in its place if there is backer board and the tiles are comeing off ok then you should just keep doing what your doing gouge out th grout and put a pry bar in the gap and turn that will break it off or at least break it then you need to sand it down patch any holes with a compound and put up what ever you are replaceing it with
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